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Red Bull unveils star-packed lineup led by Roglic ahead of Tour de France / Photo: © AFP
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Red Bull unveils star-packed lineup led by Roglic ahead of Tour de France
Red Bull on Wednesday unveiled its eight-rider cycling team to debut in this week's Tour de France, marking the energy drink maker's latest expansion of its sports empire.
Earlier this year, Red Bull bought a controlling stake in the German Bora-Hansgrohe cycling team.
"The arrival of Red Bull in cycling... it's really huge. I think we have so much potential in the future with this joint venture," said team manager Ralph Denk at the official launch of the team at Red Bull's Hangar-7 facility in the Austrian city of Salzburg.
"We have a clear plan to become the most attractive brand in cycling," said Denk when asked about his vision for the new team, adding that this would include finding "icon riders" and focussing on the development of young talents.
In 2025, a new under-23 programme will seek to bridge the gap between the juniors and the team.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team will compete in dark-blue jerseys prominently featuring the drink maker's logo and ride "super aero" bikes in white.
They will be led by Slovenia's veteran all-rounder Primoz Roglic, who has previously won the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana and also claimed his second Criterium du Dauphine earlier this month.
Former ski jumper Roglic left Jumbo-Visma to ride for Bora, starting 2024.
Red Bull's entry as a new sponsor "is a game changer or a big change for the whole (sport of) cycling," said Roglic, whose new contract is said to be worth six million euros ($6.4 million) a year.
Roglic reaffirmed his ambitions for the Tour, as wearing the yellow jersey was "the goal, the challenge" everybody on the team was working for.
"We have to go for it," the 34-year-old added.
The star-packed Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe roster for the world's biggest cycling race also includes Australian former Giro winner Jai Hindley and Russian Aleksandr Vlasov.
The Tour de France starts in Florence on Saturday and is expected to be a four-way struggle spearheaded by bitter rivals Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia and Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard across a route designed to take the world's greatest bike race down to the wire.
Red Bull has invested heavily in sports to give its brand global exposure -- it owns two Formula 1 teams and football clubs, and has also branched out into extreme sports.
K. Berger--BTZ
